To some degree, every owner who relies on fans to fund his professional sports team is like every Roman emperor who held gladiatorial games in the Coliseum to curry popularity among the masses, without whose support they were doomed. In sports, popularity is currency.

Teams can flourish with unpopular players. But unpopular managers are more problematic and unpopular owners, into whose pockets the fans' money eventually collects, can become toxic to the entire enterprise.

Francesco Aquilini and his family can argue a lot of reasons for firing general manager Mike Gillis on Tuesday. But with the Vancouver Canucks' season-ticket renewals going poorly and chants Monday night at Rogers Arena of “Fire Gillis! Fire Gillis! Fire Gillis!” echoing among the thousands of empty seats at the end of another desultory loss to the Anaheim Ducks, the most immediate benefit of firing Gillis is that it is popular.

So would be hiring Trevor Linden to run the National Hockey League team, which is what the owners are expected to do. But repatriating the most popular figure in franchise history would be far more meaningful than generating some “likes” on the Canucks' Facebook page.

For the first time since they became local owners of the Canucks in 2004, the Aquilinis face a crisis of consumer confidence when it comes to their product. The Canuck brand has been badly tarnished during the team's erosion from Stanley Cup finalists only three years ago to non-qualifiers for this season's tournament.

To start the process of restoring confidence, Francesco Aquilini sacrificed the unpopular, unorthodox GM he hand-picked six years ago. To begin restoring the Canuck brand, Aquilini should hire Linden as president or general manager or both.

Given the volume of management candidates being floated by hockey insiders, tipsters and speculators Tuesday, Aquilini may need that new tower he's building on Expo Boulevard entirely for his front office.

The Hockey News reported late Tuesday that Aquilini was negotiating with former Hockey Canada chief Bob Nicholson to become Canuck president, and that Nicholson would name Linden general manager.

Short-term, Linden would generate a windfall of goodwill for the franchise, from which he retired in 2008 but has been semi-estranged since then due to Aquilini's employment of Gillis.

The blood-feud between Linden and Gillis stemmed from the 2004 lockout. Gillis, then a hardline agent, was a close friend of NHL Players' Association executive director Bob Goodenow, against whom Linden organized a revolt in order to broker a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the league and prevent a second season from being scuttled.

Linden should have been given a significant position within the Canucks the day he retired, but his exit coincided with Gillis' arrival, so he resigned himself to a life outside the organization.

That life, personally and in business, has been more or less fabulous. Coupled with his Canuck legacy, Linden risks a great deal giving up civilian life to re-enlist with a team that could get worse before it gets better. How he would manage up and function with the Aquilinis' keen and opinionated involvement is another issue.

But if not now, it may be never for Linden, who spurned opportunities to work for other NHL teams because he didn't want to leave Vancouver. The Canucks have had only four general managers the last 27 years.

Linden stood on the outside watching Gillis for the last six.

Vancouver ascended its first three years under Gillis, who had the good sense to retain the excellent coach and terrific core players left by Nonis, filled the small gaps around them and created a progressive, appealing environment for players. Gillis was a good steward.

Despite some poor trades, awful drafts and an erratic record in free agency, the Canucks under Gillis and former coach Alain Vigneault became the best team in the NHL – right up until it lost Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup final to the Boston Bruins.

That was when Gillis needed to make the “bold” one or two moves he promised upon his arrival. Instead, Gillis stuck annually with the same group, and that great Canucks' core became stale but more deeply embedded due to a slew of no-trade clauses awarded in exchange for reasonable salaries. He did little until he fired Vigneault last year after a second straight first-round exit from the playoffs.

Whether it was Gillis or Aquilini who was responsible – or both – John Tortorella was hired as coach and that, too, became a source of unrest for Canuck fans when the team's spike in performance lasted only a couple of months. The Canucks began a freefall in January that neither Gillis nor Tortorella was able to stop, and with the winter arrival of the worst injury crisis since the one that got Nonis unfairly fired in 2008, the team became so low-scoring and conservative it was unwatchable some nights.

It became a product Aquilini could not continue to sell, could not successfully market to fans spoiled by years of winning and scoring.

Something had to change. The people had spoken. The owners, unmoved by Gillis' my-way-or-the-highway ultimatum last week, decided their GM and president should go first. Gillis has four years and unknown millions left on his contract. Presumably, the new head of the hockey department, whether his title be president, executive director of hockey operations or general manager, will decide what happens to Tortorella.

The new man will be assisted, at least initially, by assistant GMs Laurence Gilman and Lorne Henning, shrewdly held over by the Aquilinis to aid the transition. Gilman, renowned as a capologist, could choose to leave anyway as he is expected to be interviewed after the season for the Calgary Flames' general manager job.

But just as changing coaches didn't change the Canucks' downward trajectory, changing managers doesn't make them a good team again. The heavy lifting is all about improving and re-invigorating the roster. But firing Gillis earned the Aquilinis some approving nods and the understanding it may take a little time for new management to revive the team and restore the Canuck brand.

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